long live football

Before the last Bundesliga game of the 04-05 season started, Karl realized that he needed an agent.

Of course, this is not what he thought of on his own initiative, but since Munich 1860 locked the Bundesliga champion in advance, the club has received more than a dozen calls looking for Karl every day, most of which are requested by the media (the media in Britain, Germany, France, Spain and other countries have ), some people claimed to discuss cooperation with him, and even some football agents came to recommend themselves after they found out from nowhere that Carl had no agent.

The landline outside the office rings non-stop every day, and the secretary will send Carl a note full of words when he is about to leave work, most of which are about Carl's personal affairs—if it is only related to the media Well, Karl will feel at ease and let the club come forward to push those useless interviews. The head coach is closely related to the club, and helping him deal with the media is also part of his official duties.But those who want to ask him to be a guest on the show (non-sports entertainment program), want to recommend themselves to him, or even want to ask him to shoot commercials, it is Karl's own business, let the club's employees handle it for themselves every day, Something is wrong.

And as the strength of Munich 1860 continues to grow, Karl's exposure rate will definitely increase, especially after being promoted to the Bundesliga, the head coach of every Bundesliga team will be regarded as a public figure that has attracted much attention. The things involved are even more various. Carl feels that he needs someone to take care of all this for himself.

Who should I find as a broker?Carl's first thought was of his father, Laurie.The reason is that Laurie will definitely do this job well without selfishness, and will fully respect Carl's own opinions and ideas when things happen, and will not pay too much attention to money interests like some unscrupulous football agents. As a result, he made a wrong development plan for Karl, and even deceived him.

But after careful consideration, Karl rejected the idea again.

One is because Laurie already has his own business, and he and Clara live a comfortable and sweet life in the small town, so he may not be willing to take this job that often requires flying around, sacrificing his career and part of his family for Carl the sweetness.To be honest, when thinking about this, Carl already felt that as long as he mentioned this matter to Laurie, Laurie would most likely reject him.

Second, it is because there are many twists and turns in football. A good agent is not only proficient in economic law and contract law, but also communicates with club presidents, managers, well-known scouts, stars, media reporters and even It is an advertising company and an entertainment company. Although Laurie is also a businessman, he is more straightforward. He has been away from the football world for a long time, so he may not be suitable for such a career that requires tact and sophistication.

While thinking hard, Carl's heart moved, and he suddenly thought of Jorge Mendes.

Since the farewell at Ruud van Nistelrooy's wedding last year, Mendes has become more and more popular in Europe. Almost every transfer involving a Portuguese star seems to have his shadow behind him. Not only Portugal, but I heard that he is in South America. He also has a wealth of network resources, and many wealthy chairmen have close personal contacts with him, and can get first-hand transfer information of many popular stars from him, including Real Madrid chairman Florentino, AC Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi, Chelsea Boss Abu and so on.

If Jorge Mendes was regarded as a top European football agent before the summer of 04, he has been promoted to the top since he manipulated Mourinho to lead several old Porto players to Chelsea. Broker up.No one knows how much energy Mendes has in his hands now, because he pays great attention to keeping his private life confidential. Apart from knowing who he has signed under him and what kind of transfer transactions he has operated in a certain year, the media has almost nothing to do with him. I don't know.

Karl didn't know if the other party remembered him after a year, or if he was still interested in him, but since he had Mendes' business card in his hand, he might as well give it a try.

The phone was picked up after three rings: "This is Jorge Mendes."

"Hi, I'm Carl Alston. Mr. Mendez, we were last year at—"

"Carl Alston!" There was a hint of surprise in Mendes' voice: "I have been waiting for your call for almost a year!"

It was so exaggerated that even though Karl wanted to believe it, he still laughed it off: "You are too polite, to be honest, I thought you had already forgotten me."

"Even if I want to forget you, the newspapers will often remind me not to do that." Mendes said: "Actually, even if you don't call me today, I will find you again before June at the latest. "

"Oh, why?"

"My colleagues with a keen sense of smell are already asking around for you! Mr. Alston, don't be self-effacing. If you were a rough stone waiting to be carved last year, you are gradually becoming a sought-after commodity! I must I want to get you before your market goes up..." Mendes paused, then laughed suddenly: "Perhaps such words are easily misunderstood, but that's what I really think."

"Then you won't refuse the offer to be my agent?"

"I think from the time I got your call, we've agreed on that."

……

Although both Carl and Mendes tend to cooperate with each other, they still need to discuss clearly about the division of interests first. It is better to say ugly things before being friends than to hurt feelings after being friends. This is why Carl and Mendes Mendes has no reason to change his title anytime soon.

The first is the negotiation of the commission.

The brokerage contract is mainly divided into two parts: transaction fee commission and business development commission commission.The former refers to how many percent of the pre-tax income of the transaction amount should be given to the agent after transferring or renewing the contract with the club; From 4% to 10% to the agent, the ratio depends on the signatory's own reputation and the influence of the agent.

To use an analogy, if a superstar like Beckham changes to an unknown agent, the other party will definitely reduce their own commissions in order to win over Beckham, which is very tempting.And if it is a big agent like Mendes who signs a new player in the football world, it is not uncommon to get 10% of the transaction volume and business development. There is also a strong cooperation, which requires bargaining between the two parties.

Generally, the transfers and endorsements of football superstars are as high as tens of millions of euros, and the agent takes hundreds of euros. In theory, it does not mean that the agent does not bring new transfers and endorsements to the players. With no income, after the players receive their salaries and bonuses from the club every season, they also have to hand over the commission stipulated in the contract to the agent. Because the amount drawn is not cheap, so many stars look for their relatives Be a broker.

It’s just that not all relatives can think wholeheartedly about the players. If there are relatives who only want to fill their own pockets, the players may be forced to transfer continuously, or frequently threaten the club to increase their wages, such as France The star Alneka, from the summer of 99 to the present, has been manipulated and transferred by his brother 5 times.

Regarding the brokerage contract with Carl, Mendes said that he could take a few percentage points off the transaction commission, but he wanted the highest commission commission for business development.

Karl thinks this is a bit strange, because for most coaches and players, the agent’s requirement is to charge more transaction fees and less commercial commissions. Of course, the case of Beckham’s commercial value is higher than economic value. except.

"Dear Oston, just relying on your contract extension with the poor 1860 Munich that is about to sell the stadium, this amount of money is not enough for me." Sensing Carl's hesitation, Mendes complained : "If you want to make money, I want to make a fortune, business is something we can't ignore - but it takes a lot of effort, I will automatically cut your transfer commission, and it's okay to take more of the commercial commission." Not too much."

What Mendes said before is correct. He has already signed Ronaldo, Mourinho and other football celebrities with an annual salary of several million pounds, and Mourinho gives Mendes a commission for a year , are more than Karl's annual salary.

However, Karl's intuition told him that he must not let Mendes hold on tightly, otherwise he will definitely regret it in the future.So he murmured, "How much are you going to charge for transfer and commercial commissions?"

"The transaction volume is 8%, and the commercial commission is 10%." Mendes said: "This is already an extremely favorable figure. You must know that most of the stars in my company give a 10% transaction commission." .”

"10% is too high, I can accept 7%. And 8% of the transaction commission... If I remember correctly, you have given several stars lower than this number."

"...This is not allowed! You are a coach with professional ethics. You can't squeeze me like a vampire. After signing with you, think about how much effort I will spend on you!"

"Come on, you're not doing nothing for nothing." Carl chuckled lightly, "Besides, people who are often called 'greedy vampires' probably refer to your colleagues."

After some bargaining, the two finally agreed on a number that satisfied everyone.

After reaching a consensus on the commission, the contract has basically been finalized, and Mendes also showed his sincerity at this moment: "Are you interested in listening to the commercial development I just mentioned?"

Karl is indeed interested: "In any case, the commercial value of a coach cannot be higher than that of the stars, right? The exposure rate of the two sides is simply incomparable."

"No, no, you are wrong. The head coach is actually a career full of charm like the players, and it is more prosperous. The coach is a lifelong career." Mendes talked eloquently: "It's just that the coach had no prestige in the past. , the commercial value is generally low, and the general reason can be seen by looking at the record of the world's famous coaches, because they are all old men, and they are either sullen and deep, or have a hot temper. Own."

Carl raised his eyebrows and asked back: "So you made Jose into a 'media conjoined twin' in order to seek change?"

Mendez choked.

The tit-for-tat confrontation between Mourinho and the British media is no longer news. Since his stay at Chelsea this season, he has made headlines almost every day. There will be a big battle every once in a while. Many people are affected by the media. Everyone thinks that Mourinho is arrogant and arrogant by nature, and he feels uncomfortable if he is not a topical figure, so he finds fault with reporters and anyone he dislikes every day.

But anyone who has been in contact with Mourinho in his life knows that he is not so sharp... Carl and Mourinho have had several conversations, and the other party once mentioned "my My agent liked the fact that I could get the attention of the media anytime and anywhere, and he thought I would become more 'valuable'." At that time, Karl felt keenly that the reason why Mourinho always had trouble with the media could not be that simple .

Now that I think about it carefully, the other stars under Mendes are also people who can be seen on the headlines of newspapers (even in the entertainment section) almost every once in a while. What are the benefits of contacting the media?Increased popularity and commercial value will increase the value of players when they transfer, and more endorsements will be received, and agents will naturally get more commission.

Many people in football have always wondered why Mendes can always sell players worth only 1000 million to 2000 million. Good cooperation with the media is probably one of his magic weapons.

Karl appreciates Mourinho, but the word appreciation just shows that he cannot become the same character as Mourinho.

After understanding Carl's true thoughts, Mendes pondered for a while, and said: "It's not good for the coaches to all adopt one style. Jose is arrogant because of his nature. He is a genius with almost as many advantages and disadvantages." He is a genius, so he is very suitable to live in the center of public opinion and be a controversial figure. But you are different, whether it is you in the eyes of the fans, the media, or me, you are too inspirational and idol. In fact, I think you It is more appropriate to follow Wenger's path, in terms of temperament and training young players, you have his shadow, although you are also different from him in many ways..."

Carl couldn't help but started coughing.

"Oh, don't be surprised, I'm telling the truth, do you want me to make you the second hair dryer in football?"

Carl coughed violently.

Mendes smiled and said: "Well, I was just joking before, I will shape you into another kind-Beckham in the coaching world! To be honest, you are more handsome than Beckham in football There are many stars in China, why is no one else able to surpass him in terms of commercial value? In addition to Beckham’s own factors, the team behind him is the biggest contributor to making him a global brand figure. And you, Karl Os Don, handsome guys in the coaching world are scarce resources among scarce resources, and my team is no worse than Beckham's, just wait and see!"

"I am a head coach, and my job is to lead the team to play games." Carl said, "So any business activities you arrange for me cannot affect my work."

"I know that grades are the most important thing for a head coach. Don't worry, what I focus on is the development of your entire career, and I won't do anything like killing chickens." Mendes flipped through his workbook: "June or July There's always time for a guest appearance in a movie, right? It's just to sell some lust, it won't take you a day..."

After a long bargain, Mendes smiled bitterly and said: "Two hours and 37 minutes, my longest call time this year, Carl, you are such a difficult guy."

Carl smiled and said, "In short, we will have a happy cooperation in the future, Jorge."

"Good cooperation, Carl."

……

The signing with Mendes is Carl's personal affair, and Mendes himself wants to play for the first time when Carl talks about the contract with 7 Munich in July (Orr hinted to Carl yesterday that the club intends to renew his contract with him) , so this matter was not announced to the public and the media.

It's just that Karl was out of his own considerations, so he told his relatives and friends about this matter, especially Mourinho and Ronaldo, both of whom are also agents of Mendes.

Mourinho's reaction was very calm. He indicated that he knew about it a long time ago: "Jorge had a phone call with me two months ago, and he said that he must sign you. If you are difficult to convince If so, please ask me to come forward and be a lobbyist." After a pause, the madman said, "It's a pity that you fell into the trap first."

When Carl called Ronaldo, the other party's first reaction was very surprised, and he asked several times in a row: "Are you really sharing the same agent with me in the future?"

When Carl gave an affirmative answer, Ronaldo asked again: "Why didn't I hear you say this before? You already knew that Mr. Mendes and I have a great relationship, why never asked me about him?"

"Uh..." Carl decided on Mendes to be his agent in a random and lightning-fast way. He thought about it, so he did it and that was all. There was really no pre-planning or anything.

"Someone has made an introducer for you." Ronaldo guessed suspiciously: "It's Jose Mourinho? I already knew that the two of you were very close."

"What does it mean to be hot?" Carl saw goosebumps on the back of his hands with his own eyes: "This adjective cannot be used to describe Jose and me."

"Jose... tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk

"Anthea and I also..." In the middle of speaking, Carl suddenly stopped: "You have made so many detours before you, just want to ask Anthea?"

"Can't I be curious?" Ronaldo admitted frankly.

Carlton was vigilant: "What are you curious about her?"

"Height, weight, measurements, hobbies, hobbies, mate selection criteria..." Every time Ronaldo said a word, he felt that the atmosphere on the other end of the phone became colder. He suddenly felt that it was not fun, and his voice stopped abruptly.

Carl has mixed feelings in his heart.

"Forget it, I was joking just now, I'm going to bed!" Ronaldo hung up the phone with a snap.

Carl checked the time, it was ten past eight in the evening.